During the golden era of tape recording, the original 351-style tube preamp became the kings of studio tech and signature sound in the signal chain of hit recordings for artists including Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Les Paul, Nat King Cole, and Roy Orbison and producers like Steve Albini- a timeless sound that continues to be pursued by elite audio engineers today. With premium components, true-to-original circuit design, and selectable tape saturation, the Warm Audio WA-MPX authentically reproduces all the analogue tone of the original to bring vintage warmth and colour to your sound.
An Authentic Vintage Experience
The Warm Audio WA-MPX preamps are hand-wired with 100% discrete electronics. Each channel boasts three tubes that, with the high-gain switch engaged, bring the Warm Audio WA-MPX up to an incredible 90dB of gain. Each channel has custom-wound, large-core CineMag transformers on the inputs and outputs – bringing each preamp circuit to 300v.
Warm Audio WA-MPX pres are housed in steel chassis with a brushed aluminium faceplate, vintage-style Bakelite knobs, and amber-tinted VU meters. All of these key components paired with traditional build technique deliver not only a legendary “tape-era” tube pre but one of the best values in an all-tube microphone preamp on the market today. Following the Warm Formula of true-to-original tone driven by premium components, all Warm Audio WA-MPX are carefully hand-inspected & tested at Warm Audio Headquarters in Austin, Texas.
A Tube-Based Tone-Shaping Workstation
As a premium tube mic pre, Warm Audio WA-MPX delivers a wide range of analogue tone; from clean volume with preserved clarity for quieter sources to richer distortion that can be driven harder as the tubes are pushed to saturation. The WA-MPX sports a set of critical controls that meet the demands of everyday professional audio use including input impedance switching, +48v, polarity inversion, and input/output gain.
In addition to the 80Hz hi-pass filter that can help tame unwanted bass frequencies, the WA-MPX also houses a 2kHz low-pass filter to shave off excess highs for a more vintage tone profile. The classic Warm Audio “tone” control alters the input transformer impedance for extra analogue colour. A “high gain” control engages an extra 20dB of tube gain to take the Warm Audio WA-MPX all the way to 90dB – very useful on lower output dynamic and ribbon mics.
Finally, the Tape Saturation control on the Warm Audio WA-MPX engages a discrete circuit in the signal path adding natural compression, harmonic distortion, and focused tone filtering to emulate the sound of tape machines running at 15IPS, adding just enough imperfection to the signal, especially when used on program material for mixing and mastering.
The WA-MPX is far more than just a pre with the vibe of analogue tape, it’s a perfectly adaptable and extremely powerful tube mic preamp.
Premium 12AX7 & 12AU7 Vacuum Tubes
Using three premium vacuum tubes, two 12AX7s & one 12AU7 per channel, the WA-MPX delivers both high headroom and harmonically rich vintage analogue tone only found in the most unattainable tube microphone preamps on the market.
American-Made Transformers from CineMag
The history of CineMag transformers goes all the way back to the 1940s with connections to some of the most sought-after audio equipment of the last century. The particular CineMag output transformers inside with Warm Audio WA-MPX pres are custom-wound with a very large core.
Like all CineMags, the input & output transformers on WA-MPX are American-made and built to exacting standards. The huge headroom and added analogue colour of the transformers pair beautifully with the premium tubes inside Warm Audio WA-MPX.
